The Kuala Lumpur High Court today dismissed an application by two NONE individuals to cite former IGP Musa Hassan ( left ) and federal CID director Mohd Bakri Zinin for contempt of court.

The applicants, B Sasinthiran and R Muniyandi, had previously submitted that the two top police officers had in 2009 committed contempt of court by failing to comply with their release orders.

In dismissing the application today, Justice Mohd Sofian Abdul Razak ruled that the two applicants had failed to prove that the two respondents were served with the release orders and were aware of their contents.

“The query was, is there proof to show that both the alleged contemnors knew of the terms of the writ of habeas corpus. This court is unable to find any iota of evidence to support this contention,” said Mohd Sofian in his judgment.

Sasinthiran and Muniyandi obtained their writ of habeas corpus on July 29, 2009 and were ordered to be freed from the Simpang Renggam detention centre.

However, they were re-arrested immediately after stepping out of the detention centre under the same law. They have been accused of gangsterism-related crimes and the law allows for their detention without trial.

Musa and Bakri avoid press

“The onus is on the applicants to show that both the alleged contemnors were served with the writ of habeas corpus and that they knew of the terms thereof and yet breached them.

“Failure on the part of the respondents (Musa and Mohd Bakri) to file any affidavit does not relieve the applicants of proving their case beyond reasonable doubt,” said the judge in a nine-page ruling.

Mohd Sofian also ruled that the Section 3 (1) of the Emergency Ordinance used to re-arrest the two was silent on whether the police could use the same reasons to detain them again.

bakri zinin police cid chief p balasubramaniam pc 100708 04 The two applicants’ lead counsel, N Sivanathan, said that his clients may appeal the ruling. Senior Federal Counsel Najib Zakaria represented the respondents.

Both Musa and Bakri ( right ), clad in grey suits, entered and left the courtroom through a side entrance, avoiding the horde of photographers waiting outside.

The two were sporting slight smiles when the judgment was read out and left before they could be approached by the press.